But Murray Goulburn's corporate collapse saw the end of the brand and its processing equipment sold off in a fire sale.

So, seeing the opportunity, Kyvalley Dairy Group in Victoria's Goulburn Valley, now one of Australia's largest dairy families, brothers Wayne, Peter and David Mulcahy jumped at the chance to buy a well-established milk brand.

"It's an iconic brand, it started in 1893," Peter Mulcahy said.

"A lot of people have put a lot of work into that factory and brand."

Wayne Mulcahy said they thought the brand had "a strong presence, strong value, long heritage".

The deal included flavoured milk and all of the recipes, intellectual property and processing plant from Tamgambalanga.

Saved from the brink

Now every drop of Mr Coulston's milk — up to 14,000 litres a day — is sent to the Mulcahy's Kyabram factory.

Mr Coulston was proud the local milk brand, saved from oblivion, is now back on the shelves.

But, like others in the industry, he lamented the loss of the farmer co-operative.

"It's a shock. I think it'll just go down in history as one of those really horrible things that have happened to the dairy industry," he said.

Wayne Mulcahy agreed having a strong, large co-operative was a positive thing for the dairy industry.

"And we don't have that anymore with Murray Goulburn going so it'll be interesting to see what the future holds," he said.

For Kyvally Dairy it means new market opportunities.

"The dislocation in the industry caused by the troubles that Murray Goulburn have gone through has presented a lot of opportunities, not just for us but for most of the other dairy companies," Wayne Mulcahy said.

Murray Goulburn heading overseas

Murray Goulburn will almost certainly be sold to a foreign buyer.

Canadian dairy giant Saputo looks set to buy most of the components of the beleaguered company in coming months for a sale price of about $1.3 billion.